Karen Black as Karen Thompson
Description:Cindy and Lucy are eighteen and going away to college. As a ritual they must rid themselves of the dirt of their small home town (Allburg) by swimming in an abandoned church crypt. They jump in and begin talking about sex when Lucys crucifix falls into the water and drifts down to land on Czakyr's (an ancient vampire) head, apparently waking him up. Some time onwards a school teacher from a nearby town, Mark, gets directed to Allburg to help Lucy and her grandmother, who are suspected to be in trouble. Lucy becomes the target of a town turned vampire because of her 'virgin blood'. Mark, Lucy and an old wino shack up in an abandoned building outside of town but eventually get lured back to Allburg by the locals. There, with a giant glowing cross spearing the front of their Toyota, they take the town on and battle Czakyr. They win and life is restored to its original normalcy.
Biography for Karen Black
Date of birth
1 July 1942
Park Ridge, Illinois, USA
Birth name
Karen Blanche Ziegler
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Karen entered Northwestern University at 15 and left two years later. She went to Lee Strasberg and worked in a number of off-Broadway roles. Her debut on Broadway was in the 1965 play "The Playroom" for which Karen received critical acclaim. Her first big film role was in 'You're a Big Boy Now (1966)', directed by Francis Ford Coppola. She then appeared as Marcia in the Television Series "The Second Hundred Years". The film that made her a star was 'Easy Rider (1969), where she worked with Fonda, Hopper and a supporting actor named Nicholson. She would appear with Nicholson the next year when he starred in 'Five Easy Pieces (1970)' which would garner an Academy Award Nomination and a Golden Globe for Karen. Theater trained, Karen's roles would consist of Waitresses, hookers, and women on the edge. Some of her next roles were disappointments at the box office, but Karen did receive another Golden Globe for 'The Great Gatsby (1974)'. One role, for which she is well remembered is that of the jewel thief in Hitchcock's last movie 'Family Plot (1976)'. After a number of forgettable movies, she again won rave reviews for her role in 'Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)'. Since then, her film career has been busy, but the quality of the films has been uneven.
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Trivia
Sister of actress Gail Brown, who appeared in the daytime soap opera "Another World" for many years.
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: Although she has played leads (very well, in most cases), this versatile actress has enjoyed some of her greatest successes in character roles that made use of her offbeat looks and chameleonic talents. While working as a waitress in New York during the early 1960s, Black attended the Lee Strasberg Institute, toiled in minor stage roles, and eventually landed a part in the Broadway production of "The Playroom" in 1965. Critically acclaimed for her stage work, Black headed west, debuting on-screen in You're a Big Boy Now (1967) before raising eyebrows as a drugged-out prostitute in the 1969 smash Easy Rider
The following year, Black earned an Oscar nomination for her supporting per formance as a working-class waitress in Five Easy Pieces this led to choice roles in Drive, He Said, Born to Win (both 1971), Portnoy's Complaint (1972), The Pyx (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), Burnt Offerings (1976), and In Praise of Older Women (1977), among others, making her one of the most prolific screen stars of the 1970s. Her most noteworthy characterizations of that decade included a would-be ingenue in The Day of the Locust (1975), a country/western star in Nashville (1975), and a small-time criminal in Alfred Hitchcock's final picture, Family Plot (1976). A 1975 TV movie, Trilogy of Terror provided Black the opportunity for a real tour de force, playing four roles in three separate stories.
By the 1980s, though, Black found herself working in less challenging (and less meritorious) movies, such as The Squeeze (1980), Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983), Cut and Run, Invaders From Mars (both 1986), and Homer & Eddie (1989). The early 1990s saw her talents squandered in cheap, witless genre films such as Twisted Justice, Zapped Again (both 1990),Chained Heat II (1991), and Evil Spirits (1992). It seems inexplicable that an actress of her obvious talents could be so thoroughly wasted.
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Firecracker (2002) .... Sandra
Teknolust (2002) .... Dirty Dick
Don't Try This at Home (2001/II) .... Mrs. Buttleman
Hard Luck (2001) .... Aunt Judy
House of 1000 Corpses (2001) .... Mother Firefly
Light in the Darkness, A (2001) .... Mrs. Melnick
Soulkeeper (2001) .... Magnificent Martha
Big Show, The (2001) (TV) .... Herself
... aka Big Show: Toronto International Film Festival, The (2001) (TV) (Canada: English title)
Gypsy 83 (2001) .... Bambi LeBleau
Donor, The (2000)
Oliver Twisted (2000) .... Mrs. Mary Happ
Red Dirt (2000) .... Aunt Summer
Independent, The (2000) .... Herself
Karen Black: Actress at Work (1999) .... Herself
Sugar: The Fall of the West (1999)
Underground Comedy Movie, The (1999) .... Mother
Mascara (1999) .... Aunt Eloise
Bury the Evidence (1998) .... The Mother
Fallen Arches (1998) .... Lucy Roman
Light Speed (1998)
Stripping for Jesus (1998)
Waiting for Dr. MacGuffin (1998) .... Dental Assistant
Charades (1998) .... Jude
... aka Felons (1998)
My Neighbor's Daughter (1998) (TV) .... Social Worker
... aka Angel Blue (1998) (TV) (USA: video title)
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998) .... Honey Child
... aka Ed Wood's I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998)
... aka I Awoke Early the Day I Died (1999) (USA)
Dogtown (1997) .... Rose Van Horn
Invisible Dad (1997) (V) .... Courtney Whitmer
Malaika (1997) .... Jessica Martin
... aka Tons of Trouble (1998) (USA: video title)
Modern Rhapsody (1997)
Stir (1997) .... Dr. Kessler
Men (1997) .... Alex
Conceiving Ada (1997) .... Lady Byron/Mother Coer
... aka Leidenschaftliche Berechnung (1998) (Germany)
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996) (V) .... June Rhodes
... aka Deadly Harvest (1996) (V)
Crimetime (1996) .... Millicent
Dinosaur Valley Girls (1996) .... Ro-Kell
Every Minute Is Goodbye (1996) .... Schubert
... aka Death Before Sunrise (1996) (UK: cable TV title)
... aka Devotion (1996) (USA: alternative title)
Movies Money Murder (1996) .... Bettie
New York Crossing (1996) .... Mrs. Tender
Sister Island (1996)
Who Is Henry Jaglom? (1996) .... Herself
Starstruck (1995/I) .... Bertha
Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley, The (1995) .... Evelyn
Plan 10 from Outer Space (1994) .... Nehor
Jonas in the Desert (1994) .... Herself
Auntie Lee's Meat Pies (1993) .... Auntie Lee
Cries of Silence (1993) .... Rose
Double 0 Kid, The (1993) .... Mrs. Elliot
Return of the Roller Blade Seven (1993) .... Tarot
Trust, The (1993) .... Maria Vandermeer
"Tales of the City" (1993) (mini) TV Series .... Herself
... aka "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City" (1993) (mini)
Bound and Gagged: A Love Story (1992) .... Carla
Caged Fear (1992) .... Blanche
... aka Hotel Oklahoma (1992)
Final Judgement (1992) .... Mrs. Sorrel
Legend of the Rollerblade 7, The (1992) .... Tarot
Player, The (1992) .... Herself
Killer's Edge, The (1991) .... Barrett
... aka Blood Money (1991)
Quiet Fire (1991) .... Kim Martino
Roller Blade Seven, The (1991) .... Tarot
Rubin and Ed (1991) .... Rula
Children of the Night (1991) .... Karen Thompson
Children, The (1990) .... Sybil Lullmer
... aka Meine liebe Rose (1990) (West Germany)
Club Fed (1990) .... Sally Rich
Evil Spirits (1990) .... Ella Purdy
Fatal Encounter (1990)
Haunting Fear (1990) .... Dr. Julia Harcourt
Mirror, Mirror (1990) .... Susan Gordon
Night Angel (1990) .... Rita
... aka Hellborn (1990) (UK: video title)
Twisted Justice (1990) .... Mrs. Granger
Zapped Again! (1990) (V) .... Substitute Teacher
Overexposed (1990) .... Mrs. Trowbridge
Judgement (1989) .... Tiffany Powers
... aka Hitz (1989)
Circus of the Stars #14 (1989) (TV) .... Performer (Elephant Act)
Homer & Eddie (1989) .... Belle
Dixie Lanes (1988) .... Zelma Putnam
... aka Relative Secrets (1988) (USA: video title)
Invisible Kid, The (1988) .... Mom
Out of the Dark (1988) .... Ruth Wilson
Platinum Blonde (1988)
Hostage (1987) .... Laura Lawrence
Lot swierkowej gesi (1987) .... Gloria
... aka Flight of the Spruce Goose (1987) (USA)
Ralph S. Mouse (1987) (TV)
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987) .... Ellen Jarvis
... aka Island of the Alive (1987) (USA)
Invaders from Mars (1986) .... Linda Magnusson
Blue Man, The (1985) (TV) .... Janus
... aka Eternal Evil (1985) (TV)
Inferno in diretta (1985) .... Karin
... aka Amazon: Savage Adventure (1985)
... aka Cut and Run (1985) (USA)
... aka Straight to Hell (1985) (International: English title: literal title)
Savage Dawn (1985) .... Rachel
Growing Pains (1984) .... Gladys Fitzpatrick
... aka Bad Manners (1984)
Little Mermaid, The (1984) (TV) .... Sea Witch
... aka Faerie Tale Theatre: The Little Mermaid (1984) (TV)
Martin's Day (1984) .... Karen
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983) .... Zee
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) .... Joanne
Donna giusta, La (1982) .... Amy
... aka Miss Right (1982) (USA)
Chanel Solitaire (1981) .... Emilienne D'Alen�on
Separate Ways (1981) .... Valentine Colby
Gr�set sjunger (1981) .... Mary Turner
... aka Grass Is Singing, The (1981)
... aka Killing Heat (1981) (USA)
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop (1980) (TV) .... Officer Evelyn Carter
... aka Other Side of Fear, The (1980) (TV)
Where the Ladies Go (1980) (TV) .... Helen
Power (1980) (TV) .... Rose
Last Word, The (1979) .... Paula Herbert
... aka Danny Travis (1979)
Noumero, To (1979)
... aka 1922 (1979)
... aka Number, The (1979)
Mr. Horn (1979) (TV) .... Ernestina Crawford
Because He's My Friend (1978) (TV) .... Anne
... aka Love Under Pressure (1978) (TV) (Canada: English title: video title)
Killer Fish (1978) .... Kate
... aka Deadly Treasure of the Piranha (1978)
... aka Invasion des piranhas, L' (1978) (France)
... aka Killer fish agguato sul fondo (1978) (Italy)
... aka Naked Sun, The (1978)
... aka Treasure of the Piranha (1978)
Squeeze, The (1978) .... Clarisse
... aka Controrapina (1978) (Italy)
... aka Diamantencoup, Der (1978) (West Germany)
... aka Diamond Thieves (1978)
... aka Gretchko (1978) (West Germany)
... aka Heist, The (1978)
... aka Rip Off - The Diamond Connection (1978) (West Germany: video box title)
... aka Rip-Off, The (1978)
... aka Ultimo colpo, L' (1978) (Italy)
In Praise of Older Women (1978) .... Maya
... aka En hommage aux femmes de trente ans (1978) (Canada: French title)
Capricorn One (1978) .... Judy Drinkwater
Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver, The (1977) (TV) .... Miriam Oliver/Sandy
Burnt Offerings (1976) .... Marian Rolf
Family Plot (1976) .... Fran
Ace Up My Sleeve (1975) .... Susan Winters
... aka Crime and Passion (1975) (USA)
... aka Frankensteins Spukschlo� (1976) (West Germany)
Nashville (1975) .... Connie White
Day of the Locust, The (1975) .... Faye Greener
Trilogy of Terror (1975) (TV) .... Julie/Millicent/Therese/Amelia
Law and Disorder (1974) .... Gloria
Airport 1975 (1974) .... Nancy Pryor
Great Gatsby, The (1974) .... Myrtle Wilson
Outfit, The (1974) .... Bett Jarrow
Little Laura and Big John (1973) .... Laura
Rhinoceros (1973) .... Daisy
Pyx, The (1973) .... Elizabeth Lucy
... aka Hooker Cult Murders, The (1973)
... aka Lunule, La (1973) (Canada: French title)
Cisco Pike (1972) .... Sue, Cisco's Girlfriend
Portnoy's Complaint (1972) .... Mary Jane Reid (The Monkey)
Born to Win (1971) .... Parm
... aka Addict (1971)
... aka Born to Lose (1971)
Gunfight, A (1971) .... Jenny Simms
Drive, He Said (1971) .... Olive
Five Easy Pieces (1970) .... Rayette Dipesto
Easy Rider (1969) .... Karen
Hard Contract (1969) .... Ellen
"Second Hundred Years, The" (1967) TV Series .... Marcia
You're a Big Boy Now (1966) .... Amy Partlett
Prime Time, The (1960) .... Painted Woman
... aka Hell Kitten (1960)
Other Karen Black pages on Women of Horror:
Evil Spirits